Student Faces Charges after Fight with Commerce Lunch Lady

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB) — The fight for dessert soars to new levels and now a high school student is facing charges after she allegedly started an all out brawl with a lunch lady.

There was no school in Springfield today for the Thanksgiving holiday, but the fight is still on the minds of students.

Springfield police say the female Commerce High School student attacked the lunch lady, and students who witnessed say it was all over cookies

“She stole a pair of cookies and the lunch lady tried to get her back for the cookies. The girl pushed the lady and punched her,” one student recounts.

That’s when the melee got wild. Students say both the student and the lunch lady were throwing punches.

The lunchtime fight gained an audience.

“The lunch lady was trying to get at the student, but everyone was trying to make sure it didn’t happen,” adds another student.

“She’s definitely a strong lunch lady, diesel I would say. Pops her collar, you know. I wouldn’t want to get in a fight with her for sure,” one Commerce student notes.

Students that ABC40 spoke with say the cafeteria worker who was attacked is actually very nice and usually very helpful to students.

“She gives people chances. Let’s say if they have to pay for their lunch and can’t and it’s one time only, she’ll give you that chance. When you get attacked, all you are going to do is defend yourself. [So whose side are you on?] The lunch lady’s side”

Sodexo is the school department’s contracted lunch provider. They released a statement today, saying:

“Sodexo takes seriously the safety of our employees and the students we serve. We are actively investigating the details of this situation and will make decisions about next steps based on our findings.”

Back at school, students say it was an infamous fight they won’t soon forget

“Commerce is just a crazy place sometimes. Unfortunately, it happened because this type of stuff gets our school a bad rep, but you can’t control what happens.”

Police aren’t releasing the names of either the lunch lady or student.

The student was charged with unlawful assault, assault and battery, and disturbing an assembly. She was arraigned in juvenile court Wednesday.

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